Something to Talk About
by rememberalways
Summary: One shot off of Cops and Robbers, slight spoilers. One shot, complete.


Don't read if you don't want to be spoiled. Only slight ones, but spoilers for Cops and Robbers nonetheless. Wrote this quickly and on a whim and I did my best to edit for mistakes but I'm one eye down - damn sty - so I'm thinking there's more mistakes then I can see, I apologize. Just my little add on to that fantastic episode we got last night. How great was that? :)

Enjoy!  
>Cate <p>

Disclaimer: Andrew Marlowe owns these guys, so don't sue me. Kay? 

***

**Something to Talk About**

"You're awfully quiet."

Snapping out of his trance, Castle shifted his gaze from the corner of the island that had suddenly become so captivating, and looked up at Kate. She was sitting on said island, legs dangling a few feet off the floor, wine in hand, worry lines on her face. She'd loosely clipped up her hair while she'd been helping with the dishes after dinner and a few strands had slipped out, framing her face. He'd had more wine then her and it was starting to affect him and the control he had managed to keep on his emotions.

Castle was leaning against the counter opposite Kate and the quiet of the loft hummed in his ears. She hadn't said anything since taking him out of his thoughts, but she was looking at him with concern. And sure, she had a right to be; he was concerned about himself, too. Today had been a roller coaster, if anything. He'd felt so many different emotions in such a small amount of time, he wasn't even sure which way was up.

"Castle?"

It was there, in her voice. She knew that he was waging an internal war with himself and she understood. After all, the only thing worse then being on the inside of a hostage situation is being the one in charge of getting all of those hostages out alive. He could only imagine the pressure and stress that she had been under all day. He didn't need to burden her with his petty problems, too.

As he wrestled with himself, Kate sat there on his counter top, playing with her wine glass that was almost empty. She was watching him go over everything that happened today and she couldn't stand to watch him do that. But, she was perfectly content to watch him do anything, really. That meant that he was alive. He survived some crazed, angry gunman holding a gun to him and then when the bank exploded …

She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think about the fact that she could have lost him today. And Martha, too. What would have happened to Alexis if that had happened? _No, _she shook her head to herself, _everyone is fine. They're all fine._

"Rick," she pleaded with him. She just needed to hear his voice. "Say something, please."

He looked up and met his eyes met hers. He was sad, angry, tired. She could tell.

"Alexis slept at Paige's last night and she was just getting in this morning when Mother and I were leaving for the bank. When she walked in the door, she looked like this big mess, like she had clearly just rolled out of bed and I poked fun at her. I told her she had to lay off the hard liquor. She laughed at me, came over and gave me this big hug," Castle stopped to take a shaky breath in, and then let it go again before continuing. He looked Kate straight in the eye. "Do you ever think that instinctively, we know when bad things are going to happen?"

Kate couldn't, and didn't dare, to divert her gaze from his. "What do you mean?"

"It was just a moment, you know? Just a few seconds where I could communicate to my daughter that I loved her without telling her, and don't get me wrong, we have a great relationship, but those moments don't happen every day. And it just so happens that one of them happened this morning. That would have been our last interaction if I had - "

"Don't even go there, Castle," Kate cut him off, "I wasn't about to let anything happen to you."

"I know," he told her honestly, "you're my partner."

She wished she could tell him it's more then that. She wanted to just tell him that there was no force in this world that would have kept her out of that bank today, if it had come down to it. She would have moved Heaven and Earth to be able to get in there and get to him. God, she wanted to tell him that so bad. She ached to be able to let him know everything. But she just couldn't. Not yet.

"That's right," she told him, taking a big sip of her wine.

He watched her from the same spot he'd been in for a while now. She was barefoot; she'd removed her heels at the door and somehow, water had gotten on the kitchen floor, soaking the bottoms of her socks, so she'd removed those as well. The pants she wore were long without the shoes and the only thing that peeked out under the hem were her red toes. She was relaxed on the counter top, but she was tense and stressed, he could tell.

"Dance with me," he said.

"What?" She asked, incredulously. He had to be kidding. "Castle, don't be silly."

"I'm not, I'm serious. Dance with me," he repeated. "Please."

The look in his eyes told her he was being serious, however, she wasn't sure she could dance with him and keep everything in check.

"There's no music," she told him.

"We don't need any," he responded, closing the distance between them and the two counter spaces, taking her wine glass from her hands, placing it on the counter next to her leg. He took her hands from her thighs and gently pulled her off the counter to stand dangerously close to him. Her back was still pressed against the counter's ledge and still, she could feel the heat coming from him, only mere inches from her. "We can make our own," he told her, eliciting a smile from her for the first time since their conversation had started.

He pulled her into his arms and started swaying with her to the song that only they could hear. They had a hand joined together while his free hand rested on her lower back and hers on his shoulder.

"That was ridiculously cheesy, you know," Kate said, a giggle on her lips.

"I know, but it got you to smile, so I don't mind," he told her, truthfully.

There were a few moments of silence before Kate's thoughts ran away with her. The only thought on her mind was how grateful she was to have Castle with her right now. She literally shuddered in fear at the thought of having to say goodbye to Castle. She wasn't ready to do that. _Not yet, not ever._

With his hand on her back, he felt her shiver and looked down at her. Without her shoes, he had a decent amount of height on her.

"Are you cold?"

"No, Castle, I'm good," she lied, and it sounded like it, too.

"What is it?" he asked, taking the smallest step back from her so he could better see her face, but never breaking contact. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Castle," she protested weakly. She didn't have the strength to lie to him, but she didn't want to start this now. She was upset and shaken, sure, but he was the one who needed to be taken care of, not her.

"Kate, talk to me," he pleaded with her gently and so quietly, so much in fact, Kate had to wonder if she heard anything at all. Taking another small step back, Castle stopped their movement completely, looking in her eyes. They were glossy, and when she realized that he'd noticed, she blinked rapidly, and made an attempt to turn and walk away, but their hands were still linked, and he pulled her gently back to him.

"There was a good part of today where I was almost positive I'd never see you again," she eventually got out, a lone tear falling down her face, before Castle gave her hand a small pull and she came towards him, where he enveloped her in a soothing hug.

"I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere, not for a long time," he moved his hand down the back of her head, and then rubbed soft circles over her back until she calmed down a few minutes later.

"When I looked back at you, when I was leaving with the gurney, I just wanted to take you hand and take you with me," she said, when she'd gotten the majority of her breathing under control. "And then when the explosion happened," she pulled away from him, his hands still resting on her hips. "Everything stopped, Rick. Everything."

"But I walked right out of there, thanks to you, completely unharmed," he told her, trying to make her feel better.

"Yes, but thank to me, if any of those negotiations' had gone a different way - "

"They didn't, Kate and here were are."

"And here we are," she repeated back to him, more to herself really, under her breath.

"Let's go to the living room, okay? We'll sit and talk," he suggested, his thumb running small circles over the back of her hand.

Kate nodded and made to follow him to the living room, but stopped and pulled on his hand, just like he'd done to her.

"You know, one of us isn't going to have a working hand tomorrow," he said, turning around with a small smile on his lips.

"Rick," she said, squeezing his fingers, "I just ... I just want you to know how important you are to me."

Few quiet moments passed between them and she worried she'd said something wrong. But his small smile got a little bigger and her fears were erased.

"I know," he responded. "You, too."

Kate and Rick talked for hours about the smallest things in the world. Their conversation rarely drifted to the serious topics they knew they were dancing around, but they didn't mind. Conversations darted from work to Alexis and school and Castle's writing. There were talking about nothing and everything at the same time, and it was lovely.

It was in the two minute time span that Castle got up to get a glass of water, that he came back to find that Kate had fallen asleep on the couch. He smiled to himself, knowing that she was thoroughly exhausted. He placed the water down on the coffee table and gently, effortlessly, lifted Kate into his arms, and brought her into his room. He tucked her under the covers and placed a kiss to her forehead. Finally, he made quick work of removing the clip from her back of her head, letting her hair fall back against the pillow. Not once did she stir, she was that tired.

Castle retreated to the living room, picked up his water, locked up for the night, and retreated to the guest bedroom for a good night's sleep.

When Kate woke up in the morning, she was initially unsure about where she was and why she was still dressed in her clothes from the day before. When she looked around, she remembered all of last night and it dawned on her that she was in Castle's room. But where was Castle?

She padded out through the office to the kitchen and found Castle and Alexis poking each other with forks while Castle stood over the stove. Alexis laughed as she looked up at Kate and they both smiled at each other. Castle then looked at Kate, and smiled himself.

"I'll go tell Grams breakfast is almost ready," Alexis said, leaving the kitchen.

"Subtly isn't what she's good at," Kate remarked, pushing her hair back from her face and coming over to stand by Castle.

"Clearly," he smiled at her, still. "How did you sleep?"

"Well, thanks, really," Kate started, slightly stumbling over her words, "About last night, I'm sorry about - "

"Ah, don't even think about apologizing," he told her, cutting off a piece of the French toast he was putting onto the platter and putting it in front of her face on a fork. "Taste?"

She nodded, and he slipped the toast into her mouth. It was heavenly, but she certainly wasn't going to inflate his ego like that. _Oh, what the hell?_

"That's fantastic, Rick," Kate told him, wiping at the corner of her mouth with her finger. "Want to share the recipe?"

"Absolutely not!" He responded, feigning offense as he picked up one platter of food, and she picked up the other and followed him out to the dining room table, already set for all four of them. They placed their respective dishes on the table and both just observed the scene they were currently in and took it all in.

It was then that he took two strides over to her, placed a kiss on her cheek, and pulled back to look her in the eyes.

"How are you?"

She smiled, eyes lit up. "I'm perfect, never better," she told him, as honestly as she could. "How are you?"

"About the same," his smile matched hers. "Coffee?"


End file.
